Witness: Witness Archive 2017

For five years Maisoon Bashir and her family lived on the front-line of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip. Their house was directly opposite one of the Jewish settlements built by Israel after it captured the tiny heavily-populated territory from Egypt in the Six Day war in October 1967. Israeli troops occupied the top floors of Maisoon’s house, using it as a military look-out post, while Maisoon and her family continued living in the rooms below. They finally re-gained possession of their home when Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005. Maisoon tells Mike Lanchin about living with soldiers in her own home. Photo: An Israeli armored personnel carrier deploys at sunrise to protect the evacuation of the Gaza Strip Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom (David Silverman/Getty Images).

King Henry VIII's favourite warship sank during a naval battle over 400 years ago. But the wreck and its contents were preserved in silt for centuries and finally raised to the surface in October 1982. Susan Hulme has spoken to Christopher Dobbs, one of the archaeologists who helped excavate the Mary Rose while she lay on the sea bed, and who is still uncovering its secrets today. Photo: A reconstruction of the Mary Rose, in full sail. Copyright: BBC.

A very modern museum opened in the Iranian capital in October 1977. It contains one of the finest collections of Western art outside Europe and North America. Iran's Islamic revolution just over a year later, led to many of the paintings being hidden from public view. Rozita Riazati spoke to Kamran Diba who was the architect, and first director, of the museum. Photo: A woman visitor to the Museum. Credit: AFP/Getty Images.

Just 33 days into his reign, Pope John Paul I unexpectedly died in September 1978. He was discovered in the early morning lying on his bed, a collection of sermons in his hand. He was considered an excellent communicator, and his warm personality earned him the nick name of "the smiling Pope". But his death shook the church. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Cardinal Beniamino Stella who knew him well. (PHOTO: Pope John Paul I. Credit: Getty Images.)

Guinea became the first French West African colony to declare independence in October 1958. In a referendum held throughout French colonies, Guinea had been the only nation to vote for independence. Guinea was led by the charismatic politician Sekou Toure who famously declared "We prefer poverty in freedom, than riches in slavery". The French government under General Charles De Gaulle reacted to the decision by cutting off aid, withdrawing French workers, and stripping Guinea of equipment and resources. Alex Last has been speaking to Professor Lansine Kaba, a Guinean historian who was in Guinea as a student in 1958. Photo of Guinean leader, Sekou Toure, during a visit to London in 1959 (AFP/Getty Images)

It took 508 days for three friends to complete the first trek along the entire length of the ancient structure, well over 8000 kms. They finally reached the Jiayu Pass on September 24th 1985, having documented the condition of the wall every step of the way. The three men became national heroes as the press followed their progress. Their expedition also drew attention to the Great Wall, Chinese culture and history and sparked a new era of Chinese tourism. Yaohui Dong spoke to Rebecca Kesby about what inspired him to make the journey. (PHOTO: Yaohui Dong, Wu Deyu and Zhang Yuanhua. Courtesy of Yaohui Dong)

Around 80 thousand women and girls volunteered to join the Women's Land Army during the Second World War. They helped provide vital food supplies to a country under siege. Kirsty Reid has spoken to Mona McLeod who was just 17 years old when she started working 6 days a week on a farm in Scotland. Mona has written a book about her experiences: 'A Land Girl's Tale'. Photo: Land girls carrying bundles of straw in 1941. (Credit: Maeers/Fox Photos/Getty Images)

The anti-apartheid activist was buried on September 25th 1977. He had died in police custody just two weeks earlier. Thousands of people attended the funeral. Alex Last spoke to one of the early members of the Black Consciousness movement, Mamphela Ramphele who had a relationship with Steve Biko. Photo: Anti-apartheid activist attending the burial ceremony of Steve Biko, October 1977. (Photo credit STF/AFP/GettyImages)

A showdown on the American/Mexican border on September 14th 1958 - in which two horses raced along either side of the border fence. Lucy Burns speaks to Ralph Romero, whose father was the owner of Relampago, the Mexican horse. Photo: Relampago, courtesy of Ralph Romero

After the 9/11 attacks, a New York guide dog called Roselle was hailed as a hero for helping her owner safely down 78 flights of stairs and away from the Twin Towers before they collapsed. Simon Watts talks to Roselle's owner, Michael Hingson. PHOTO: Roselle and Michael Hingson, right, meeting a 9/11 rescue team (Getty Images)

For decades, Australia's countryside was ravaged by billions of rabbits. So in the 1950s, the government released the disease myxomatosis to kill off the rabbit plague. We hear from farmer, Bill McDonald, who remembers Australia's battle against the bunnies. (This programme is a re-broadcast). (Photo: Rabbits around a waterhole at the myxomatosis trial enclosure on Wardang Island in 1938. Credit: National Archives of Australia)

When Australian spearfishing champion Rodney Fox survived an horrific attack by a Great White Shark in 1963, it inspired him to learn more about the predator that tried to eat him. He invented the Shark Cage to help him do it safely. Rodney's was one of the worst non-fatal shark attacks ever recorded. He's been describing his miraculous escape from the jaws of death to Rebecca Kesby. (Photo: A Great White Shark - Getty Images)

A plague of African desert locusts flew 5,000 kilometres non-stop to the Caribbean in 1988 in a journey never before recorded. They are thought to have come over with Hurricane Joan and the islanders were horrified at the sight of millions of dead and dying locusts on the beaches. Ministries of Agriculture feared the insects would become an established pest and would ruin crops but the surviving locusts seemed disorientated and soon died out. Claire Bowes has been speaking to an entomologist from St Lucia about the strange visitors who didn't like bananas. Photo: Getty Creative Images

A doctor working in Sabra and Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon recalls the massacre there in September 1982. Over the course of three days, Lebanese Christian militiamen killed and raped hundreds of the Palestinian inhabitants of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut in revenge for the assassination of their leader, Lebanese president elect, Bashir Gemayel. Dr Swee Ang treated the wounded in the basement of the only hospital in the camp; she tells Louise Hidalgo her story. Photo: A Palestinian woman cries while civil defence workers carry the body of one of her relatives from the rubble of her home in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in West Beirut, 19th September 1982 (Credit: STF/AFP/Getty Images)

Karl-Heinz Borchardt was arrested just after his 18th birthday by communist secret police in East Germany. His crime was writing a letter to the BBC World Service in protest at the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He has been speaking to Abby Darcy about how he was caught out by the Stasi. Photo: Karl-Heinz Borchardt at the time of his arrest. Copyright: Dr Karl-Heinz Borchardt .

A group of hippies known as the London Street Commune occupied a sixty-room mansion in central London in September 1969. 144 Piccadilly became a flash point for the conflict between alternative culture and the mainstream – and it was later cleared by the police. Lucy Burns speaks to Richie Gardener, who was one of the squatters. Picture credit: A policeman removes a flag from the balcony of 144 Piccadilly as squatters are evicted from the building, London, 21st September 1969. (Photo by Terry Disney/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Customers queued for hours to take their savings out, fearing the mortgage lender was about to go under. The Bank of England had to step in to support it. It was the first sign in Britain of the coming global financial crisis. Photo: Northern Rock customers queuing outside the Kingston branch, in order to take their money out on September 17th 2007. Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

When West African tin miners unearthed evidence of a lost civilization. In the 1920s, terracotta heads and figurines were unearthed near the village of Nok in central Nigeria. They were ignored until a British colonial officer and archaeologist, Bernard Fagg, realised they were evidence of an unknown African culture dating back over 2,500 years. Alex Last speaks to Bernard's daughter, Angela Rackham. Photo: A Nok terracotta (Marie-Lan Nguyen)

The last man to be executed by guillotine in France was a disabled Tunisian murderer, Hamida Djandoubi. He was beheaded on September 10th 1977 at the Baumettes prison in Marseille. Ashley Byrne has spoken to the daughter of lawyer, Emile Pollak, who defended Hamida Djandoubi and who was present at his execution. The death penalty was outlawed in France in 1981. Photo: A man looks at a guillotine in an exhibition. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images.

In 1974 during a live broadcast of Carl Orff's, Carmina Burana as part of the BBC classical music season 'The Proms', the principal baritone singer collapsed into the orchestra pit in a dead faint. A member of the audience stepped forward to sing the rest of the piece. Patrick McCarthy had only just graduated from music school, but became something of a national hero when he rescued the show. He describes the night he saved The Proms at The Albert Hall in London to Rebecca Kesby for Witness. (PHOTO: Patrick McCarthy outside The Albert Hall, London 1974. Getty Images)